A committee of Sacramento leaders isn’t too happy with the possibility that the Kings could end up in Seattle. The group, Think Big Sacramento, is accusing investor Christopher Hansen of trying to steal their NBA team.

Sacramento Kings fans are feeling the same way Seattle Sonics fans did back in 2008. (AP Photo)

On behalf of the 99% of us who make up the wonderful mosaic that is the great City of Sacramento, we have one message for the top 1/10th of the 1% who is engaged in actions detrimental to our community:

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OUR KINGS.

In an open letter Monday (PDF), Jeremiah Jackson of Think Big delivers a scathing slam on Hansen and his plan to bring professional basketball back to Seattle. A San Francisco hedge-fund manager who grew up in Seattle, Hansen hopes to build a new NBA and NHL arena near the stadiums, and has been developing his plan with the city and the NBA for a year.

But which NBA team could relocate to Seattle? Hansen has his sights set on the Sacramento Kings.

“We are especially troubled that you would be actively pursuing an initiative that you know will short-change our community of badly needed jobs,” the Think Big letter states, “given that your native city of Seattle knows the economic pain and suffering that comes when one city raids another city. One would think that Seattle of all places would be sensitive to engaging in such predatory behavior.”

But the big problem with the letter is that Hansen has nothing to do with Sacramento’s basketball woes. Even without Hansen’s plans, the Kings would likely leave if Sacramento doesn’t get its act together — in fact, they nearly relocated to Anaheim a year ago.

Sacramento is under intense pressure to build a new basketball facility in order to keep the Kings, in a situation that is eerily similar to Seattle’s loss of the Sonics in 2008. Sacramento must submit a financing plan by March 1, and city leaders appear conflicted about how to do it.

A design concept for a new Sacramento NBA arena. (Think Big Sacramento image)

Perhaps Hansen, to bring the Kings to Seattle, is doing more behind the scenes than we know. But according to recent publicity around the plan, Hansen is merely looking to capitalize on the opportunity that Sacramento may lose the Kings.

If Seattle were to get the Kings, the team could play at KeyArena — the Sonics’ old home — on a temporary basis, until a new stadium is finished. Before the Sonics even left for Oklahoma City, and became the Thunder, the NBA had declared KeyArena an unsuitable venue.

Meanwhile, the struggling Phoenix Coyotes professional hockey team may also be up for grabs. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league is looking for a buyer to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, but has strong interest in bringing a team to Seattle — as long as there’s a venue.

In the letter to Hansen, Think Big challenged him to take part in a debate “at high noon” on Feb. 23 in Sacramento, so that he can “defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable: your effort to steal our jobs.”

Keeping the Kings in Sacramento as the cornerstone for the economic revival of the City is really a question of whose side are you on:

Are you on the side of jobs for Sacramento; the future of Sacramento; and the people of Sacramento or are you trying to kill our jobs; working against our future; and anti-Sacramento?